In addition, during the war, the 25-year-old entrepreneur received shares in the Russian OBI chain of construction hypermarkets and the Russian coffee houses of the departed American Starbucks chain. The BBC considers these “prizes” for Korchagin’s participation in the war and his family’s loyalty to power.
What’s happened
The Russian army captured Mariupol in the second month of the war. During the hostilities, the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, which belonged to the company of Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov, was captured and partially destroyed. The Russian and DPR authorities promised to restore the enterprise, creating more than nine thousand jobs, but so far the restoration process has not begun. But in August last year, a company was registered in Makiivka with the same name as the metallurgical plant – MMK Ilyich, the BBC found out. In November, after the DPR became part of Russia, the company was included in the Russian unified state register of legal entities.
The head of MMK Ilyich, a businessman from Makeyevka, Yuri Murai, confirmed that the company is connected with the Mariupol plant, but refused to give other details to journalists. At the end of January, entrepreneur Valid Korchagin became a co-owner of MMK Ilyich (he received 50% of the company).
What is known about Korchagin
The 25-year-old businessman was born in the village of Prishib, Astrakhan region, the BBC found out. According to the TV and radio company, Vakhit Geremeev, who is allegedly the father of Valid Korchagin, lived in the same village.
The BBC checked Korchagin’s contacts in the Getcontact application, which shows how the subscriber is recorded on the phone of his friends. And the analysis showed that the businessman was recorded by some as “Valid Geremeev”, “Valid Geremeev (Korchagin)”, “Valid Vakhitovich Korchagin”, “Valid Giremeev Son of Vakhid”. Shortly after the BBC correspondent looked at this information in Getcontact, all tags with the name Geremeev were removed from there (the journalists were left with screenshots with the results of the first search).
In addition, back in 2021, the name Geremeev was on Korchagin’s VKontakte page (this can be seen in the archived version of his account), but then it was changed.
Now Vakhit Geremeev, a well-known official in Chechnya, holds the post of deputy head of the republic’s Ministry of Construction. He is called the brother of Senator Suleiman Geremeev (both of them are Sadulaevich by patronymic).
The Geremeevs are relatives of Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma deputy from Chechnya, who, in turn, is considered Ramzan Kadyrov’s closest ally, writes the BBC. Delimkhanov participated in the capture of Mariupol: on April 21, against the backdrop of the burning “administrative building of Azovstal,” he announced that “the special operation to destroy and clean up Mariupol, one might say, is completed.”
It is likely that the Geremeev family gained access to the MMK as a “reward” for having fought in Ukraine, suggests Ilya Shumanov, general director of Transparency International Russia (recognized as a foreign agent) (recognized as a foreign agent). “They fought, demonstrated their loyalty, and may well claim an asset that is located on this territory,” says Shumanov. Korchagin, who was not known to anyone, became the official owner, because all the Geremeevs were “in positions”, it was impossible to transfer the business to them.
Shares in Russian assets of OBI and Starbucks
During the war, the mysterious Korchagin received not only the Donetsk company, but also shares in the assets of foreign companies that left Russia, the BBC notes. In particular, at the end of October, he got a stake in the Arena company, which took over the coffee shops of the American Starbucks. Korchagin’s partners in this business were Kadyrov’s longtime friend Timur Yunusov (Timati), restaurateur Anton Pinsky, and the president of the Sindika company, which is associated with Senator Arsen Kanokov.
In addition, at the end of 2022, Korchagin became a co-owner of the OBI construction hypermarket chain. This was preceded by several suspicious resales of OBI, during which unknown people and companies with no significant assets became the owners of the network. Now a legal dispute is flaring up around OBI: businessman Andrey Baranov, who was promised a share in the Russian business of the German network, is demanding to cancel transactions to change the owners of the network. Read more about this wrote “Kommersant”.
Now, in addition to Korchagin, the OBI network is owned by the Modul-2 company, which is still associated with the same Sindika holding of Senator Kanokov. The holding belongs to the Senator’s daughter Madina Kanokova, Vedomosti wrote.
Baranov has a chance to challenge the OBI ownership change deals, say lawyers and consultants interviewed by Kommersant and the BBC. If during the proceedings it turns out that the assets of the German OBI were transferred to people close to Kadyrov, this could provoke a powerful sanctions scandal, Shumanov from Transparency believes. An investigation may be launched against the German company in order to find out how the transactions for the sale of the Russian asset went.